Selectively operable electrical switches have long been utilized for actuating electrical devices. In the past, these switches have sometimes been provided with internal lighting circuits which illuminate the switch or portions thereof to achieve certain purposes. For example, such lighting circuits have been used to provide general illumination of a switch to facilitate use in an otherwise dark environment. Lighting circuits have also been employed to provide a visual indication that the switch illuminated by the circuit is currently being supplied with power. In addition, lighting circuits have also been constructed to indicate the operating state or operating position of the switch itself. For example, switches have been designed to include a lamp which only illuminates when the switch is in the "on state" (i.e., flowing current to a connected device) to enable a user to readily determine whether that switch has been thrown. An exemplary lighted switch that employs lamps for both general illumination and to provide an indication of the operating state of the switch is described in detail in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,073, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Prior art self-illuminated or lighted switches have generally suffered from certain disadvantages. For example, prior art lighting circuits have typically employed thin lead wires to couple one or more lamps in circuit with one or more contacts on the floor of the switch housing. Since it is generally preferable to position the lamps near the top of the switch housing to improve the illumination of the switch bat or button, the lead wires usually extend a distance from the bottom of the switch housing to a position near the top of the switch housing. Thus, in order to avoid interference between the moving components of the switch and the lead wires, trained personnel must carefully form and position the lead wires by hand during the manufacturing process of such lighted switches. As a result, the manufacturing process of prior art self-illuminated switches has typically been labor intensive, time consuming and expensive.
In addition, due to the limited cavity space typically available in self-illuminated switches, it has often been necessary to add external electrical jumpers to the switch housing in order to provide the necessary lamp connections without interfering with the moving components of the switch. The provision of such external jumpers has added component costs and additional construction steps to the manufacturing process of prior art self-illuminating switches thereby further increasing the overall cost to manufacture these devices.